In New York City and other places of high population density ecological consciousness has prompted the enactment of animal litter laws, in some instances invoking a stiff fine for pet owners who let their animals, generally dogs, litter the sidewalks or public places.
In response to this change in consciousness of those who are affected by the animal owning public, a number of litter scoopers have been developed, or at least designed and patented. Although presently on the market there appears to be a simple pan and boom device, issued patents cover a much wider variety of "pooper scoopers."
Some of these devices use a dustpan-type enclosure with some means of sweeping the droppings inside. At least one of these, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,135 utilizes a bag liner to prevent the pan from getting dirty in use.
Others, which pertain more closely to the instant device, are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,606,436 and 3,446,525. Both of these devices utilize bars that swing together at the bottom of a long shaft from a spaced apart position to a side-byside parallel position to scoop under droppings, there being a bag which is enveloped over the prongs or blades before the blades are used, so that the droppings end up inside the bag.
This type of pooper scooper naturally has a significant advantage over pooper scooper which become soiled with use, although some of the latter type of pooper scooper are easy to rinse in toilet bowls or the like. However, the type which utilizes a liner or bag, at least the art illustrated in the Patent Office, does not always represent the most physically convenient implementation of the general concept. In the instance of U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,436 a pair of bars must be manually swung together while maintaining the proper position and angle of the bottom blades, which would be awkward. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,525, a convenient one-handed trigger action is used, but the device remains closed in its biased position, and must be maintained open against the spring bias, requiring some effort on the part of the user during alignment and collection of droppings.
Additionally, although the prior art may suffice to clean large, solid dry droppings, they are completely inadequate for taking care of watery leavings, or the part of other droppings remaining embedded in the sidewalk.